I blog about my daily existence in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I am an artist who paints in oils, draws cartoons, and attempts to review art exhibits from time to time. I am into making felt wool scarves, through the wet-felting technique. I sell these li'l beauties in a couple of shops in Montreal, and also on my Etsy page (http://HendersonArt.etsy.com/) Generally my bibble-babble about life.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hey folks! I am teaching some workshops over the summer, fall, and into the winter. Here is the link to the schedule. There is stuff for kids, adults, and teens too! If you have any requests or ideas please feed me some of that feedback. Thanks everyone!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

I just went by my soon-to-be-new-studio today. Saw the friendly land-lady again, paid the rest of May's rent... and got the keys!!! I didn't think I'd have access 'til May, but Landlady is nice. Happy happy!

So in the next couple of days, I will be heading over there with tape-measure and papers and pen in hand. Like any time that I start in on a new space (for example, back in 2002 when I bought my home in Courtenay, BC) I like to make a little "dream-map" of what I imagine things could be like there. I want to set this place up well, so that I utilise the space to its best. Shelving, extra lighting... things that will make it all the better.

I will be teaching courses in this space for kids, teens, and adults. The courses will be administered through the Salamander Arts Centre, but people can contact me directly, too. There will be courses in felt-making, painting, and mixed media stuff. The kids' courses will run mostly in the summer, and the teens/adults right through 'til Christmas. When I have the exact dates and times worked out, I'll provide a link to the lists. In the adult courses, we will make things like felt scarves, felt coasters, felt purses, felt beads, felt cat-toys...

The painting course for adults that I will offer is one that I had designed a few years back, and offered in the Comox Valley... however there was never enough interest in it then. I am hoping that in all of Montreal I will find 4-8 people who would like to "Add Depth To Painting"! It will be a fun course, despite the dry name. Depth is a good, good thing!

Anyhow, I must get on to packing things around the home that will be transferred over there, now. Soon I'll get movers to come and haul furniture and etc for me, so I need to get a-boxin' up. I'll also need to shift stuff from my old, shared studio space to home in the next couple of weeks...

Sunday, April 11, 2010

I am not really a blogger... Just looked at "last published" and it was over four months ago. WELL!!! I HAVE been working one day a week, so am waaaaay too busy for writing! Ok, not really.

To make a long, rambling story a tiny bit more succinct, I am going to be renting a studio of my own, starting in May. I will be offering classes and workshops for kids, teens, and grownups in felt-making as well as painting. Some of the kids' summer programmes will be mixed-media creations... should be fun!!!

When I'm not teaching over these next few months, I am planning to work on paintings. The new line o' paintings will be based on the format of music... here, to absolutely bore you, is my proposal that I just sent out for a grant recently:

"In this project, I will produce a new group of paintings that are based on the structure of musical forms. In the recent past I have made works that are based on the structure of poetic forms, namely the Sonnet and the Ghazal. I intend to give some musical forms a similar treatment in paint.

Rhythm, line, form, pattern, texture, body, repetition… many art-terms are also musical ones. What could happen if some of the strict rules of format are taken from one realm (music) and applied to another (painting)?

I will research forms of music, then assign codes and indications for myself as to how to represent the specific rules of music formats in a visual sense. Some examples of musical genres I am thinking of… Classical, Hip-Hop, Maritime and Quebecois Folk/Traditional. I will narrow down and specify which particular musical formats I will use during the research stage.

When I paint these new pieces, I will apply a sense of landscape to them. This sense of landscape would be inspired by the musical genres, themselves… as well as being a situation that the viewer of the work could imagine themselves as inhabiting. I hope to give the viewers of this work a unique experience; a point of reflection and contemplation.

For six months of work, I anticipate to make about 12-15 major pieces… large-scale paintings. I will also make a number of smaller studies, sketches and small paintings. The large-scale works would be about 5’x5’."

OK. So if anyone's made it through that, you win a prize!!! A pat on the back.

If I do (and, if I don't) get that grant, the next series of works will be based on an old, old, old proposal (well, about four years old) that I had made to create "Impossible Views"... paintings that are based on mirrors, corners, and... stuff. Hard to explain. You've already had way too much reading. Later, later. You'll get a pat on the back for that one, too.

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About Me

I am an artist. I am making my way through life and enjoying a new city and a somewhat new culture. I moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the summer of 2007 from Comox, BC, Canada. I write about my life and weird adventures and try to review art exhibits I see around town. I also post photos and cartoons I make, in addition to my paintings and felt wool scarves.